The Rancher’s Dog Laid Flowers in Her Lap… He Said, “I Think God Is Trying to Tell Me Something”
Chapter 9
Thomas and Margaret returned to the ranch before dawn.
The house was dark.
Too dark.
Thomas stopped his horse.
“Something’s wrong.”
The barn door stood open.
Gideon growled.
They entered carefully.
Nothing had been stolen.
Nothing looked disturbed.
Then Margaret saw the kitchen.
Her mother’s blue cloth was gone.
Someone had searched the room.
Thomas walked toward the pantry.
The floorboards had been replaced.
He knelt.
One board was loose.
Underneath was a small brass key.
Margaret picked it up.
“What does it open?”
Thomas shook his head.
Gideon barked.
He ran toward the stable.
They followed.
At the back of the stable stood an old wooden cabinet Thomas had never used.
Margaret tried the key.
The lock opened.
Inside was a small packet wrapped in oilcloth.
The original deed.
Margaret stared at it.
Her father’s true signature was there.
The date was six years earlier than the forged document.
There was also another name.
A witness.
Samuel Reed.
Thomas sat heavily on the wooden bench.
His brother had witnessed the deed.
And Samuel’s signature proved that the land had never been transferred.
But beneath it was something even more important.
A second statement.
Samuel had written that Silas Mercer had attempted to bribe him.
He had refused.
He had then been threatened.
Thomas closed his eyes.
“He wasn’t working with them.”
Margaret sat beside him.
“No.”
“He knew.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why he disappeared.”
Gideon lay at Thomas’s feet.
Margaret touched Thomas’s hand.
He didn’t pull away.
“I thought I lost everyone,” he said quietly.
“You haven’t.”
Thomas looked at her.
Their eyes met.
Neither moved.
Then Gideon barked.
The moment broke.
Outside, hoofbeats approached.
Thomas stood.
“We’re out of time.”
